Augusto Boal

Augusto Boal is someone that I first mentioned when I began this project, and is someone that I have come across in the past when working on Applied Theatre. He is a famous practitioner in the world of community theatre and his methods are used worldwide in the development of this kind of theatre. I am really intrigued by his work (and the fact we share the same birthday), and throughout this researching period in my project I have been turning to his books out of interest and for guidance into some of the areas I am researching.

Throughout his life, up until his death in 2009, Boal worked relentlessly hard to try and evoke theatre as a tool for change, to give power and arts to the common person, and make theatre more widely available to the masses. He believed that theatre could be used to empower people that were seen to be oppressed by society, and wanted theatre to be an 'active relationship' between everyone involved. Using games and exercises to get anyone involved, whether that be a trained actor or 'common citzen' as he saw it, his methods inspired a lot of the early work in the areas of applied theatre, community theatre and drama therapy. 

One of Boal's movements/methods which I find most interesting is 'Theatre of the Oppressed' which in its simplest form is about Boal wanting to restore theatre to what he sees as its proper place, as a form of communication and expression, which is something I have been focusing on in my project.  Boal's book 'Theater of the Oppressed' draws on his influences and theories of Aristotle and Machiavelli to discuss how theatre has come to be ruled by class, and has not been available to the masses, and how Boal wishes to challenge and change this through his theories. This book takes a bit of hard work to get through, but what I have taken from the book and learnt means its well worth reading if you can get your head around it. 

           
Above is an image of the 'Tree of the Theatre of the Opressed' which links all the methods and forms of theatre Boal was using during his movement. 

Newspaper Theatre-  an early form of documentary theatre, a technique which allows people to make theatre from actual and local stories

 

Image Theatre-  using images and physical theatre to express feelings and emotions

Forum Theatre- where the spectator becomes a 'spect-actor', watching and taking action

Legislative Theatre- an extension of forum theatre which uses theatrical techniques for social/political impact

Invisible Theatre- an idea that theatre can pop up anywhere, in any situation  

Another point of the Tree of the Theatre of the Oppressed is the 'Rainbow of Desire' which uses techniques from image and forum theatre to investigate internal oppression, and ways to change this oppression. This technique is more closely linked to using theatre as therapy.  Again Boal has a interesting book on this subject. 

The last book which is an essential Boal read is his book entitled 'Games for actors and non-actors'. This book provides and insight into his methods and exercises he uses with groups to develop his methods.